BAY POINT — The Mt. Diablo school district is taking over management of state-funded after-school and summer youth programs in this unincorporated community from the local parks district.

The Ambrose Recreation and Park District is dropping the contract it has held since 1999 because it wants to concentrate on providing recreational services rather than school district-affiliated educational programs, according General Manager Tarry Smith.

State legislators are considering proposals to save money by consolidating special districts, Smith said.

“It may not be in your best interest to be too fractured if and when they start consolidating,” he said.

Ambrose is also concerned about paying for workers’ compensation and liability insurance for about 65 recreation supervisors and teachers who work for the state-funded programs.

“Our workers’ comp rates go up if there are any problems, and our liability insurance will go down $12,000 if we don’t have the contract,” Smith said.

The current management contract with Mt. Diablo, which runs Bay Point schools, ends June 30.

The school district is happy to take over the Bay Point programs, said Mt. Diablo Director of Development Stephanie Roberts.

“We would have preferred Ambrose continue to manage the programs, but they had to make a decision for their overall agency,” Roberts said. “There will be no lapse in services for students.”

All 65 part-time recreation supervisors and site coordinators will be rehired without having to interview for their jobs, Roberts said.

Bay Point programs include a community garden at Riverview Junior High that students maintain year-round, cooking classes, dance classes, sports classes and tournaments, and other activities.

Besides Riverview, the programs are offered at Shore Acres, Rio Vista and Bel Air elementary schools in Bay Point and Delta View Elementary in Pittsburg.

Mt. Diablo also runs the after-school programs at 13 schools in Concord.

The school district manages some of the Concord programs and contracts out others to Oakland-based Bay Area Community Resources. Ambrose will continue to operate its teen center because it gets funding separate from the after-school programs, Smith said.

The state Department of Education pays for program grants at 38 elementary and middle schools in northern Contra Costa County.

Statewide, after-school programs receive about $550 million a year, with 97 percent of the money going to schools in low-income communities.

Sponsors tout the fact that they keep youngsters off the streets from 3 to 6 p.m., the hours when the highest percentage of juvenile crimes occur.

Around 5:35 p.m., CHP officers responded to a report of the incident in westbound I-580 lanes at Main Street. En route, officers learned a vehicle's driver said a person in another vehicle brandished a handgun and fired a shot.

In addition to evacuating 10 neighboring homes, deputies restricted pedestrian and vehicle traffic in the area while the sheriff's office bomb squad "safely disposed" of the explosives, officials said.